The use of oxen for farm work gradually declined in favor of using horses in the eighteenth century for a number of reasons, including the fact that horses could also serve as riding animals when not used as draft animals, the superior speed of horses when working, and the fact that they could work out in the fields all day with a nose-bag of oats as fodder. Cattle have a different digestive system and need bulky food and time to digest it. Oxen remained in use the longest on poor farms that could not afford horses.